Discharge device



Nov. 4 1924.

' R. E. BAKER ET AL DISCHARGE DEVICE Original Filed March 21. 1917 5Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS ARTHUR B E050 LE Y [if 0H0 I ATTORNEY I R. E.BAKER ET AL DI S CHARGE DEVI CE Original Filed March 21, 1917 .3Sheets-Sheet 2 E/IRDLE Y hi FO I R. E. BAKER ET AL DISCHARGE DEVI CEOriginal Filed March 21, 1917 3Sheets-$heet 5 Patented Nov. 4, 1924:.

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rarer OFFICE.

ROBERT ELIVIER BAKE-P1, OF BRONXVILLE, ARTHUR- FRANCIS GUMIVIINS, OFWHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, AND EARDLEY HARRY FORD, 0F LOS ANGELES,CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNORS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO JOSEE'Z-I BAKER SO1\TS&PERKINS COM- .PANY, ING, OF WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEWYORK.

DISCHARGE DEVICE.

Original application filed March 21, 1917, Serial No. 156,275. Dividedand this application filed November To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ROBERT ELMER BAKER, a resident of Bronxville, inthe county of lVestchester and State of New York, ARTHUR FRANCISCUMMINs, formerly of Nutley, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, but now a resident of l/Vhite Plains, in the county ofWestchester and State of New York, and EARDLEY HARRY Fonn, formerly ofBrooklyn, in the county of Kings, city and State of New York, but now aresident of Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, all three subjects of the King of Great Britain, havejointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in DischargeDevices, of which the following is a specification.

Our present invention relates to disharge devices for use in connectionwith conveyor mechanisms, and has been devised particularly for use inmachines for proving dough before baking it. In the type of provingmachine to which this invention is intended to be applied primarily, aconveyor is employed for carrying through the proving chamber, thetrays, tins, or other containers in which the dough has been placed, andat the outlet of such chamber, the containers are removed from thelongitudinally-travelling conveyor by a discharge device operatingtransversely of the conveyor path. The conveyor is intended to beoperated with a continuous movement, while the discharge device isactuated intermittently, for the periodical removal of said containers(with the dough therein) from the conveyor, and our improved dischargedevice has been so designed as to operate in a perfectly satisfactorymanner in conjunction with a continuously moving conveyor. Thisdischarge device has novel features, particularly in the means fordriving it, causing its motion. to take place with a speed which atfirst increases gradually and then decreases gradually, both during itsactive or working stroke and during its return stroke, the latter takingplace in'less time than the working stroke.

This application is a division of an application for United Statespatent filed by us March 21, 1917, Serial No. 156,275, which Serial No.423,722.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation, with parts in sec-' tion, showing chieflythe arrangement of the discharge device and of the driving means; Fig. 3is a detail horizontalsection on line 3 3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is avertical section of the upper portion of the discharge device, taken online H of Fig. 6; Fig. 5 is a detail section on line 55 of Fig. 1; Fig.

6 is a vertical section on line 6-6 of Fig. 7: Fig. 1 18 a verticalsection on line 77 of Fig. 6; Fig. 8 1s a partial vertical section onthe plane indicated by the line 88 in Fi 6, but showing the parts in adifferent position; Fig. 9 1s a detail vertical section on line 99 ofFig. 6; and Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating the operation of thedischarge I device.

In Fig. 2, we have'indicated at 11 one of the walls of the provingchamber, with an opening 11 through which the trays, tins, or othercontainers 12 are adapted to be pushed out of said chamber by the actionof the discharge device designated, in its entirety, by the letter A.The action of the discharge device delivers such containers to a support13, which may be a table, or it may be a conveyor for transferring thecontainers thus deposited on it, to the baking oven (not shown). Thesecontainers travel through the proving chamber, being carriedtherethrough by a conve or which may be of any suitable construction andtherefore need not be described herein in all its details. Thecontainers 12 rest on carriers 14, connected with the conveyor in such amanner as to keep the carriers and containers horizontal during theirtravel. Thus, the

carriers may be secured rigidly to rods 15 connected by cranks 16 toshort shafts 17 which are also provided with other cranks 18 engagingstationary guides 19. The

shafts 17 formthe pivot connections for-the links of the conveyor chains20, guided and supported at appropriate points by suitable parts, amongwhich are the driving sproclt ets 21 mounted rigidly on the shaft Thisshaft also carries a gear wheel 23, in mesh with a pinion 24: on a shaft25, which also carriesa gear wheel 26 in mesh with a pinion 27 on ashaft 28. This shaft also carries a gear wheel 29, meshing with a gear30 on a shaft 31, said gear 30 being also in mesh with a pinion 32 on ashaft 83 driven in any suitable manner, but preferably by means of anelectric motor, indicated at 34;.

At 35 we have indicated guides arrangec vertically and adapted to heengaged by portions of the conveyors, say by rollers 36 mounted looselyon the conveyor pivots 17, to steady the conveyor laterally adjacent tothe outlet 11, against the pushing action of the discharge device A. Theguides 35 are so placed that the rollers will pass between them, andshown, the rollers are provided with flanges 32'" engaging the guides 85in the same manner as the flanges of the wheels of railway carriages soas to prevent motion of the conveyor chains laterally, or transverselyof their planes. These flanges might engage in a similar manner, otherguides or rails (not shown) arra-irged at other portions of theconveyors pat-h. The tins orother containers 12, when brought intoregistry with the opening 11 by the movement of the conveyor arearrested by spaced stationary fingers or supports 3'? (see Figs. 2 and3), and it were. lifted off the carriers, which pass between the spacedfingers, whereupon the discharge device will push such conts' from. thesupports 37 through the opening ill" and transfer them to the table orother support 13. as referred to above.

The discharge device driven from the shaft 28 "(or in any othersuit-able manner). say by means of a sp'roclre wheel 38 secured rigidlyto said shaft, and connected by a chain 39 with a larger sprocket l0 onthe main shaft 41 of the disc r'ge dei" Preferably, according to ano herinvention of ours explained more fully in a separate applicet'ion. filedsimultaneously herewith, Serial No. $23,723, he connection between theshaft 41 and the sprocket 40, while rigid. under normal conditions, issuch as to insure its breaking in the case an abnormal strain on thedischarge device or on any of :of the parts co'n'ne'ctiz'ig saidsprocket with the discharge device proper. For this purpose a 42.,having a weakened portion, be employed re connect the sprocket 4.0 witha collar having a pe m n'ent ri connection with the shaft, but thesprocke- 40 is connected with the shaft only by said pin 42, and becomes'e or loose on the shaft whe the pin 42 l ealis. so that this case t hesh-aft ll together with the discharge the fact that the inittent device,may stop notwithstanding the con- :lC-Ci'F'l t crank pin 49. Preferably,as shown, the Cll-Sl-I lS provided with three (or more) ockets S atdifferent distances from the enter of the countershaft 47., so that thede so of eccentrici, of the crank pin 19 may varied. by secuung it inone of tl ese sock- 1' another. The crank pin extends out along a radialguideway 51 of a toothed sector 51 which is mounted loosely on the haftll so that it may rock thereon. ector is in mesh with a pinion 52,

o loosely through a slide 50, movable in and mounted rigidly on a shaft53 which extends across the machine and also carries rigldly twopi'nions 54 in mesh with racks 5F suitably guided in. the frame 44, toslide towards and from the discharge opening 11. These two rocks 55 areconnected at their forward or outer portions by cross bar or pusoe'r 56of such length. and position that it may pass between the two chains ofth proving conveyor and push the tins or 19 from the supports 37. Fig. 2shes the usher in its extreme inner or retracted p0 ion. The meshingwheels 4.6 are mutila gear wheels, so formed that during half arevolution of he shaft 41 the wheel 46 will be driven and perform a fullrevolution (the radius of the pinion 46 be ing equal to half the radiusof the 'ar wheel 4-5). while during the other half lcY0- lutionof thewheel the pinion will he held stationary and star y by its engagementwith t. win 1 Notwithstanding sl t 41 and therefore the wheel d5 rotatecontinuously, the peculiar drive described above will produce aninterpusher 56. the outward or active movement being relatively ale 3and the inward or return movement relatively rapid. although each ofthese i .erei or strokes inerea s in speed grad a zero to X1111 and thendecreases to Zero. This will reciprocatiz'ig movement of the outwardstroke, the crank pin 19 is at the point a. The wheels 45, 46 are justbeginning to mesh, and the shaftif with the crank pin 49 begins torotate in the direction indicated by the arrow. The right-hand tangentof Fig. 10 may be said to represent the center line of the guide 51 atthe beginning of this movement. As the shaft l7 revolves, the pin 49 andthe slide 50 cause the sector 51 to rock from right to left as long asthe pin 49 is traveling on the are a b 0 (Z, and from left to right whenthe pin is traveling along the arc (Z c a. The swing ing of the sector51 from right to left corresponds to the working stroke of the'pusher,and the swinging from left to right to the return stroke. It will beobvious that the velocity of the swinging movement of the sector, whichwas zero at the start (point (1.) increases gradually until it attainsmaximum at the point 5 located on the diameter passing through thecenters of both shaft 41 and 47. Then the velocity again decreasesgradually from said point Z2 shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 9) along the are 7)0 (Z until it again becomes zero at the point (Z. (The point 0,diametrically opposite to the starting point 0', indicates the positionof the crank pin 49 at the time the relative position of the gear wheels45, 46 is as shown in Fig. 8). The sector 51 then swings in the oppositedirection, from left to right, while the crank pin 49 travels along thearc (Z c a, the speed of the swinging movement (and therefore, of thesliding movement of the pusher 56) being zero at d and incr asinggradually to the central point e, to then again decrease gradually tothe point a, where the velocity of the sector and of the pusher againbecomes zero. Vfhile movement of the crank pin L9 is continuous and auniform rate of speed, throughout the complete revolution abovedescribed, along the path a b 0 (Z a a, the crank pin 49 comes to a restwhen it reaches the point a at the end of such revolution, and thenremains at rest during an interval of time equal to that taken for saidrevolution. While the crank pin is at rest (and with it the sector 51and the pusher 56), the rotating surface 46' slides along the stationaryconcave surface 46'. thus holding the sector 51 and the pusher 56against accidental movement. It will be understood that. since the crankpin 49 at the time of its movement rotates at a uniform rate of speed,the timetaken for the outward or active stroke of the pusher (are a b a(Z) is considerably more than the time taken for the return stroke(arc-d c a), said return stroke, in the example shown, taking just halfthe time that is required for the operative stroke of the pusher. Itwill be evident that the maximum speed reached during the working stroke(point 0) isconsiderabl less than the maximum speed (position thereached during the return stroke (point'e), the speed at bbeing' lessthan half the speed at c. As a result, we obtain, during one completerevolution of the main shaft 41, the following operation: During thefirst half of said revolution, the shaft-47 will be driven, performing acomplete revolutionduring this time. During the major part of this"complete revolution of the shaft 47 (two-thirds of a revolution of theshaft 47, correspondingto onethird of a revolution of the main shaft 41)the sector '51 and the pusher 56 will be given their working stroke at aspeed increasing gradually fronazero to a maximum, and then. decreasingagainto Zero. During the remaining smaller part of the revolution of theshaft l7 (one-thirdof a revolution. in the example shown, correspondingto one-sixth of a revolution of the main shaft l1), areturn movementwill be imparted to the sector 51 and pusher 56, such return movementincreasing in speed grad ually from zero to a maXimunigreater'than themaximum speed of the working stroke, and then again decreasing to zero.It will be obvious that since the return movement takes place ina muchshorter time than the working stroke, the velocity that is, the averagevelocity) during the return stroke will be much greaterthan thatduringthe working stroke, enabling the machine to be operated moreefficiently. It is not practicableto operate the pusher at a relativelyhigh, speed during the working stroke, owing to the dangerof injuringthedough, or upsetting the tins on thetable 30. During the second half ofthe revolution of the main pivots 1'7.

- The guides will'brace the conveyor at the outlet portion of theprovingchamber. and will prevent swaying of the: conveyor under the influenceof the transverse movement of the pusher 56. In order to secure anefiicient st'eadying, action, the guides 35 of the same pair arepreferably placed at a greater distance apart than the adjacent ends ofopposite fingers or'supports 37 (see Figs. 2 and i Various modificationsmay be made. without departing from the nature of our invention as setforth in the appended claims. 1 We claim as our invention:

1. Ina machine for proving dough, a proving chamber, a conveyorcomprising a pair of parallel flights adapted to move in said chambertofeed the dough, a -eciproeating discharge device arranged to penetratethe path of the flights of the conveyor for removing dough from saidchamber, and drive mechanism for imparting to said device a relativelyslow outward or active stroke, a relatively quick inward or inactivereturn stroke, and, at the end of said return stroke, a period of dwellor rest lasting as long as the said active and return stroke together.

2.- In a machine for proving dough, a proving chamber, a conveyorcomprising a plurality of flights adapted to move in said chamber tofeed the dough, a reciprocating discharge device located between saidflights and adapted to penetrate the" path thereof for removing doughfrom said chamber, and drive mechanism for imparting to saiddischargedevice, a relatively slow outward or active stroke, arelatively quick inward or inactive return stroke and at the end of saidreturn stroke a period of dwell or rest lasting as long as the saidactive and return strokes together, said drive mechanism, comprising amutilated gear with teeth on onehalf of its periphery, and a toothlessportion of 180, a pinion adapted to be driven a complete revolution bythe teeth on said mutilated gear, andhaving a gap between the ends ofits toothed arc and a concave locking surface in said gap to co-operatewith the convex toothless portion of said gear, whereby the periodduring which said pinion is driven will be of the same length as theperiod during which said pinion is at rest, and an operatlve connectionbetween said punch and the discharge device to 1mparta reciprocatingmotion to such device.

3. In a machine for proving dough, a proving chamber, a conveyorcomprising a pair of parallel endless chains adapted to move in saidchamber to feed the dough, a discharge device arranged to reciprocateacross the path of of said chains for removing" dough from said chamber,and drive mechanism for imparting to said discharge device, a relativelyslow outward or active stroke, a relatively quick inward or inactivereturn stroke and at the end of said return stroke a period of dwell orrest lasting as long as the said active and return strokes together,said mechanism comprising a mutilated gear with teeth on one-half of itsperiphery, and a convex toothless portion of 180, a mutilated pinionadapted to be driven a complete revolution at each meshing with theteeth of said gear, said pinion having concave locking surface in thegap between the ends of its toothed arc, to co-operate with said convextoothless portion of the gear, whereby the period during which saidpinion is driven will be of the same length as the period during whichthe pinion is at 7 rest, and an operative connection between sa d pinionand the dlscharge device to immoving dough from said chamber, drivingmechanism for imparting to said discharge device, relatively slowoutward or active stroke, a relatively quick in "ard or inactive returnstroke and at the end of said return stroke a period of dwell or restlasting as long as the said active and return strokes together, saidmechanism comprising an os cillating member operatively connected withthe said discharge device and provided with an outwardly-extending guidetrack, a drive shaft provided with a plurality of crank sockets ofdiflierent eccentricity, and a crank member adapted for attachment toany one one of said sockets and for movement along said guide track.

5. In a machine for proving dough, a

proving chamber, a conveyor comprising a pair of-spaced parallel flightsadapted to move in said chamber to support and feed the dough, areciprocating discharge device constructed and arranged to penetrate thepath of the flights of the. conveyor for removing dough from saidchamber driving mechanism for imparting to said discharge device, arelatively slow outward or active stroke, a relatively quick inward orinactive return stroke and at the end of said return stroke a period ofdwell or rest lasting as long as the said active and return strokestogether, said mechanism comprising a rack connected with said dischargedevice, a pair of connected pinions one of which meshes with said rack,an oscillating toothed sector meshing with the other pinion, and meansfor driving said sector.

6. In a machine for proving dough, a proving chamber, a conveyercomprising a plurality of spaced parallel chains adapted to move in saidchamber and carry the dough therethrough, a discharge device adapted toreciprocate across the path of said chains for removing the dough fromsaid conveyor and chamber, and means for imparting to said dischargedevice a relatively slow outward or active stroke and a relatively quickinward or inactive stroke, said means comprising an oscillating member,provided with a guide track extending radially from the pivotal axis ofsaid oscillating member, a bearing slidable along said track, a crankrotatable within said bearing, means to rotate said crank, and means tooperatively con nect said oscillating member and discharge device. a i

7. In a machine for proving dough, a proving chamber, a conveyor adaptedto move in said chamber and carry the dough therethrough, areciprocating discharge device adapted to penetrate the path of saidconveyor for removing the dough from said conveyor and chamber, andmeans for imparting to said discharge device a relatively slow outwardor active stroke and a relatively quick inward or inactive stroke, saidmeans comprising an oscillating toothed secby said sector, a pair ofracks meshing with said pinions and connected with said dischargedevice, a bearing slidably mounted in said guide track, a crankrotatably mounted in said bearing and means to rotate said crank.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specification.

, ROBERT ELMER BAKER.

ARTHUR FRANCIS CUMMINS. EARDLEY HARRY FORD.

